A/N: First, thanks for all of your lovely reviews that provide me with the drive to write this colossus of a story. Two, cookies to whoever guesses where I got the name for the new teacher from. Three, new poll! Because the Hugo High school show has been decided (something that was on the list but you will have to wait and see.)

February 1, 2010

Éponine had to admit that she was happier then she had been in a very long time, it was plain to see. She had noticed the change, as did her friends, and of course so did Alex. Anymore she scarcely thought about her parents or Alain, and she realized just how useful talking with Dr. Briel was. Her confidence had been boosted due to all these factors so when it came time in early February to select classes for the upcoming year she figured she would try some new things. How it worked was during a mandatory class (English, Science etc.) the teachers would pass out a packet with all the next years available classes. Then the respective teachers would come into their class rooms and basically pitch their classes, they would fill out the forms and sign up. To Éponine this was a long and tedious process that prevented Mr. Dumas class from running properly. Still she listened as every teacher presented, to some extent. As it came to the last teacher for the first day she was shocked to see a teacher she had never met before. She was small, she was young, she had short, wavy, brown hair and kind brown eyes.

"Hello, my name is Marie Dufor, I am the new choral director at Hugo High," she introduced herself to the class. There was whispering as to what had happened to the old choral director Mr. Chevalier.

"Now I am here to change the face of Hugo High's choir," Ms. Dufor spoke smiling.

Éponine started listening, maybe this was her chance, a chance to change herself. Choir, well the least she could audition, there wasn't any harm in that.

"If you are interested please come and speak to me, my office is right next to the music room." Ms. Dufor finished just as the bell rang.

Éponine grabbed her things together but she didn't rush out of the room, she stopped in front of Ms. Dufor.

"Yes?" Ms. Dufor asked, "did you need something?"

Éponine pushed her hair out of her face, all of a sudden she felt as if she had lost her nerve. "Uhh... I was wondering if I could join choir?"

Ms. Dufor smiled and nodded at her, "of course, I mean I will need you to audition, my door is always open-"

"Éponine, my name is Éponine Thenardier," Éponine introduced herself to Ms. Dufor.

"Nice to meet you Éponine," Ms. Dufor held out a hand to her, "I really hope you do seriously consider joining choir."

Éponine nodded, "I will," she then left the room to continue to her next class, Cosette was waiting for her.

"Were you talking with Ms. Dufor?" Cosette asked as they started walking to Geometry class.

"Yeah," Éponine replied with a slight shrug.

"Didn't know you were interested in choir," Cosette smiled, "I mean I always thought you had a nice voice."

"A lot of people have been telling me that recently," Éponine tilted her head to the side.

Cosette put her hand on her friends shoulder, "I've been trying to tell you since last year, you just didn't listen until now."

Éponine blushed, "well I'm proud of you, I bet you'll do great, so how is 'Zelma doing with tech crew?" Cosette continued.

"She has been enjoying it so far, apparently Andre is on tech as well," Éponine replied as they entered their second period class room.

February 5, 2010

Éponine had not been able to truly work up the courage to go and audition for Ms. Dufor until the end of the week. Even when she did so she still felt very unsure with every step she took down the hall towards the music room. Sure she had decided to change herself but was this really what she meant, "but if I back out now what good will that do me?" She sighed as she stood outside Ms. Dufor's office. "Come on 'Ponine, you can do this, you know you can."

She entered the room and stood there in front of Ms. Dufor nervously, the teacher was sitting at her desk and had yet to look up. "Ms. Dufor?" Éponine tried to get her attention, the young teacher looked up.

"It is a pleasant surprise to see you Éponine," Ms. Dufor greeted her, "I see you've taken up my offer and decided to audition for choir?" Éponine nodded her head, "so what are you going to sing for me?"

Éponine took a breath, "'My Favorite Things' from 'Sound of Music'."

"Very nice, now feel free to take your time," Ms. Dufor smiled kindly, "no pressure."

Éponine closed her eyes and rocked back and forth on her feet for a moment trying to rid herself of her nerves,"alright, I can do this..." She opened her eyes and looked at Ms. Dufor who was patiently waiting for her to begin.

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
Brown paper packages tied up with strings,
These are a few of my favorite things-"

Slowly she was losing her nervousness and was letting her heart take over, she pretended as if she was 11 years old again and singing her little brother to sleep.

"Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
Silver white winters that melt into springs,
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites,
When the bee stings,
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad."

She ended her song there instead of continuing, "that was awful wasn't it?" She was struggling to read Ms. Dufor's reaction to her audition so she assumed the worst.

Ms. Dufor shook her head and smiled, "Just the opposite Éponine, you were wonderful, consider yourself in choir."

Éponine smiled, although years of doubting her singing ability seemed to be melting away, "Really? Do you mean it?"

"I do," Ms. Dufor nodded, "I cannot wait to have you in my class next year."

Éponine was grinning, her smile stretched from ear to ear, "thank you!" She then happily ran from the room feeling like she could fly, she did it! She ran down the hall trying to find Alex, but he had gone home. She leaned against his locker for moment before proceeding to walk back down the hall towards the parking lot. She pulled out her phone from her pocket and started dialing his number, she had to tell him.

As Alex was driving home he noticed his phone started ringing, he grabbed it from the cup holder it had been sitting in. "Hello?" He answered.

"I got it!" Éponine replied excitedly.

Alex was confused, "got what?"

"Oh, I forgot I hadn't told you," Éponine answered him laughing slightly.

"Well you still haven't told me," Alex spoke as he was turning on to the street that would take him to his neighborhood and he waited for Éponine's response.

"I auditioned for choir today-"

"I didn't know you could sing," Alex responded, he was impressed, "so you got in I take it?"

"I did," Éponine replied happily.

"That's great 'Ponine," Alex was smiling feeling happy for her, "any other new and interesting classes for next year?"

"Chemistry, European History-"

"I better warn you about Mr. Robins-Pierce," Alex laughed, "beware, he can be brutal, no mercy."

Éponine laughed on her end of the line, "well I've got to go, see you later."

"Bye 'Ponine," Alex hang up and tossed his phone back into the cup holder as he continued his drive home. Parking on the curb he trudged through the snow covered walk which with each passing day was turning more and more to slush. As per usual his parents were not home yet and so he started work on a lab report he had due in the next two days.

Over dinner Armand Enjolras had once again brought up the topic of the Thenardier case, Alex clung to his father's every word.

"So Mr. Fauchlevent is more then willing to adopt all three children into his family," Armand explained, "and the parents don't really seem to care, in fact the father said, 'less for us to worry about then'."

Sandrine sadly shook her head, "has he no parental feelings?" It hurt her so badly to see someone care so little for their children.

"And according to Child Protective Services latest evaluation of the children they are doing well in Mr. Fauchlevent's care," Armand took a sip from his glass of water and turned to Alex, "what do you think my boy? Any changes in-"

"I don't like talking about 'Ponine like this, I feel like I'm going behind her back," Alex answered coldly.

Armand seemed taken aback, clearly Éponine Thenardier was more than a simple acquaintance to his son, could there be something much more? "Alright, it was a simple question."

Alex took a deep breath and thought about how harshly he had just reacted to his father, he immediately lost his appetite as well. "May I be excused?" He turned to his mother, then without waiting for an answer he went upstairs and to his room flopping down on the bed. His ceiling was the sort that had little dots of what seemed like plaster, he started counting them all. At some point during his tedious task he heard a knock at the door which made him lose count, "Come in," he grumbled.

His mother entered and sat down on the bed with him, "what happened at dinner?" She asked.

Alex sighed, "nothing."

"No, I know this isn't nothing," Sandrine replied knowingly, "do you like this Thenardier girl?"

Alex sat up and looked at his mother, why should she keep something like this from her? This isn't a forbidden relationship after all. "It's more then that," Alex replied vaguely but he could tell his mother understood.

Sandrine smiled brightly, "so are together with, I'm sorry, what is her name?"

"Éponine," Alex smiled slightly, "since New Years Eve."

Sandrine gently rubbed Alex's shoulder, "that's wonderful honey, now curiosity is killing me, what does she look like?"

Alex extracted his phone, on it there were pictures of Éponine from the other day when she was jokingly taking "selfies". He liked them so much he decided to keep them on his phone.

Sandrine smiled and even laughed a little, "she is very pretty, seems like a nice girl."

"She is," Alex replied, he had also been realizing that perhaps he was genuinely feelings of love for his girlfriend, different then what he had felt in the beginning. Part of him was even wondering about what they would do when he graduated high school next year. He hadn't brought up any of these thoughts to Éponine for fear of pushing her to fast, but he wondered how long he could keep it to himself.

"Would you like me to ask your father to stop bringing his work to the dinner table?" Sandrine asked.

Alex shook his head, "No, it's fine, just don't tell him about me and 'Ponine." He didn't know how his father would feel if he knew Éponine was more than a friend.

"Alright, I won't tell," Sandrine got off of the bed, "now you left dinner early, if you are still hungry you can come downstairs and I'll heat it up, okay?"

Alex nodded, "Maybe," then his stomach grumbled a little, he sighed, "fine..." He followed his mother back into the kitchen to finish his dinner.